The blue liquid soaked world of tampon ads rarely does women any favours, but this ad is really something else.
According to the new commercial for BeFresh feminine hygiene products, when you don’t have your period, you’re a slim-figured, mermaid-haired go getter. But when you’ve got your period, you’re a larger, more bitter, unclean woman who hates everything (and you).
Because fat people are gross and unclean, didn’t you know?
Creative director of J. Walter Thompson, the advertising company behind the ads, Tim Holmes said in a statement that they are “changing the rules of periods,” which makes sense if you are a man who works in advertising and believes that periods turn women into pizza-guzzling monsters who must be warded off with carefully selected panty liners.
“The result,” he said, “is a creative platform that changes the rules of periods – say goodbye to ugh and hello to feeling fresh and clean.”
But actually, the result is a series of videos in which a woman with her period is confined to her home to be alone with her own crankiness and a cat, much to the dismay of her “clean” and freshly made-up regular self, who would clearly much prefer to be out sipping green smoothies somewhere.
Period-haver is depicted crying uncontrollably in the shower, basically stapled to her couch and yelling “I feel like I sat on a jam donut!” into her phone, with which she also orders unholy amounts of junk food.
Check out the video here:
This ad doesn’t change the rules – that’s the same stereotype that women have battled for eons (but now with a very gross metaphor about doughnuts).
The blue liquid soaked world of tampon ads rarely does women any favours, let’s just say realism and body positivity are not its strong points, but this is really something else.
If you manage to make it through to the end of one of the ads without your remote control smashing your TV screen, skinny girl eventually frees herself from period prison thanks to the shiny new BeFresh pad between her legs.
She laughs heartily and says a little “hello to fresh!” as, now apparently psychotic, period-haver chases her down the street, banished for another month.
Not only does the ad pander to offensive stereotypes about women and menstruation, it also almost explicitly equates body size with happiness levels.
It paints women on their periods as catatonic, cat-loving, couch potatoes with no control over their raging hormones and tempers, while simultaneously presenting a skinny ideal and shaming anyone who might not fit into her ambitiously white shorts.
Thanks to this ad, we know that periods are disgusting (almost as disgusting as being a larger woman) and women are just one carefully chosen sanitary item away from complete hormone-fueled break down.
Basically: nope.
Were you offended by this commercial? You can lodge a complaint with Advertising Standards Bureau here.
Want more like this? Try these:
What if tampon ads were made by clueless men? Oh, wait.
Period product marketing taken to a whole new level. By this lying 11-year-old.
Top Comments
There is no reason to be offended by this. This ad is something we need more of, we need more of the truth. Because, frankly, having your period is not glamorous, not in the slightest. I have no clue why you would say that this ad is degrading larger women, if the ad had used a bigger model, it would have the exact same outcome, because during a period you can feel bloated and tired and just all-round groggy all the time (and I completely understand that others can have different experiences with their periods, this is how I and the majority of my friends and family feel during our periods). The whole thing about feeling like your "sitting on a jam doughnut" can be absolutely true, it is never, and will never be, a fun time having your period. I cannot see how on earth this ad would be offensive if you think about the fact that the woman portraying "Aunt Flo" is acting out the symptoms people can have during their periods. No one said that they were trying to convince people that "fat people are gross and unclean" because that's not what they are trying to say. We need more of these ads, showing the sometimes gross truths about what it's like to live with the lining of your uterus tearing itself out of you every month. We don't need the glorified versions of periods. We need ads like these.
Oh my god I love this ad. Made me laugh and epitomises how I feel sometimes - gross and bloated. I did not take any offense to it. People need to relax and accept the ad for what it is, an advertisement in a sea of other ads, that is trying to stand out. Have a laugh people!